Beside Me
by Calencoireiel
Summary: After EW. Rating to be safe. Yaoi warning, 1x2x1, mentions 3x4x3, 5xSx5. Heero saves Duo after a mission and takes care of him. Feelings develop from there.


Revision note: I revised this story recently and feel that it is a bit improved. As a side note, this story was inspired by a picture I found online years ago of Duo kissing a rather surprised Heero. Later I found that it came from a very good (and rather popular, I gather) fan manga. With that, here is the updated story.

AN: Alright this is my very first attempt at a GW fanfic. Go easy, please. It is sappy (cause I like sap) and it is kinda cheesey too. (Gomen) Also, some of the Japanese might not be right... oh well. I hope you like it!

Warnings: YAOI, 1+2+1, sap, very slight angst(?), mention of 3×4×3 and 5×S, very cheesy (gomen!)

Disclaimer: You know how this works, I don't own them :(

*thoughts*

Beside Me

Duo woke with a start, panting and sweating. His t-shirt was hot and damp and loose pieces of long hair dragged across his face. He looked around the room; it was dark, cold and empty. The cool air on his sweat-soaked face and shirt gave him shivers. Silence was all that met his ears. The long haired pilot sighed and looked at the clock on the nightstand beside his bed. Six thirty in the morning, too early, but he knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. He felt that he should be up soon anyway, so he climbed out of bed.

*It was only a dream that woke me. Okay, a nightmare, but it's all the same, right?* He tossed the sheets back on the bed, not bothering to make it up.

The nightmares had been coming since the war was over, even now, a year after the Eve Wars ended. They all experienced them, Duo knew. He could tell, even if no one said anything. Sometimes you could hear small cries or shouts from the other pilots' rooms during the night. At breakfast, Quatre's eyes would be full of tears, or Trowa had bags under his eyes from too little sleep. Wufei would be more grumpy than usual, Sally would be unusually quiet, and Heero would laze about all day. It was a bad thing for all of them to go through, but Duo always put a smile on for them, they needed cheering up. *Heck, I should just be glad the nightmares don't come every night.*

He walked to the bathroom to take a nice long shower and get ready. Towel wrapped around his waist, he returned to his room. He put on his black priest clothes and gold cross necklace, making sure his appearance was nothing less than perfect. He brushed and braided his long, damp hair, and looked for a tie. A red one was sitting on his dresser. He reached for it and secured it to the end of his long brown braid. With one more glance in the mirror, he stepped into the hall, shutting his door behind him.

All the boys had decided to join the Preventers, and they all lived together in one medium-sized house; Heero, Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, Sally, and himself. It has seemed natural to do so and no one among them felt ready to venture into the world on their own.

Duo walked down the hall and down the staircase to the kitchen, a bright smile plastered on his face.

Trowa with his nose in a book was sitting next to Quatre who, like his partner, had his head buried in the morning newspaper. Their clasped hands rested casually on the table. Heero was typing away on his laptop at the other end of the table, not unusual. Sally was finishing up breakfast, smiling as she worked. She always seemed to enjoy it when her turn to cook came up. Duo just shook his head at her behind her back. Wufei sat back in a chair, arms folded across his chest as he glared at his wife, as though doing so would make the food come faster.

*They've been married for seven months; you think he'd stop glaring at her all the time and call her by her real name.* Sally didn't seem to have a temper to speak of. In Duo's opinion, this made a nice balance for the irritable Chinese man.

In truth, they were quite a sweet pair; Wufei just didn't express his feelings the same way. Every time he muttered "weak woman," or something of that nature, she'd ignore him, or smile and roll her eyes. If she sat next to him on the sofa and leaned against him, he would say something like "move, woman," but wouldn't enforce it. And if he was in a good mood, he'd even put his arms around her. In the rare cases that he did offend her, he was surprisingly quick to apologize and even called her "Sally."

Trowa and Quatre had a nice relationship as well, and if you found one of them, the other was bound to be close by. It was so sappy it was almost sickening... almost. They just seemed so natural. It was a great contrast to Wufei and Sally.

Then there was Heero and Duo, without anyone. Well, that wasn't completely true—Heero always had Relena, should he choose to go to her. And there were plenty of people who thought Hilde was his own girlfriend, not realizing that she had someone else and that Duo wasn't interested.

"Morning everyone!" Duo said cheerfully.

"Hn," Heero answered with a quick glance towards him.

"Good morning," Quatre and Sally replied with smiles.

Trowa nodded to him. Wufei briefly transferred his glare to Duo before returning to its original target.

"Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes," Sally said as Duo took a seat between Heero and Wufei.

"Good, I'm starved!" Duo said getting comfortable.

"You're always hungry," Wufei grumbled, bitterly, but Duo just grinned. He noticed that Trowa had dark circles under his eyes and that Sally wasn't talking to anyone. Nightmares. He felt for them and started talking and making jokes in an attempt to take their minds of them. He succeeded to some extent, getting a small smile out of Trowa and a laugh from Sally. However, he didn't see Heero watching him.

Mr. Cheerful, but no matter how much Duo babbled and smiled, he couldn't hide the pain in his eyes. Only Heero seemed to notice—he was well in tune with others' emotions, if not his own. It helped him become the "Perfect Soldier," being able to predict what people would do based on their emotions.

He felt sorry for Duo. It seemed to be Duo's job to cheer the rest of them up, whether he wanted to or not. Even when it was Duo who really needed the most cheering up. Heero knew that he wasn't up to that task, though. He had trouble removing his soldier persona, though he had never met someone who made him want to try. That was, until he met Duo. Especially when Duo was obviously feeling down, he wished he could offer some sort of comfort.

Why was he worrying about Duo anyway? The braided baka.

Heero shook the thoughts from his head and started to type again. He hadn't realized that he'd even stopped, and neither did anyone else, except for a watchful pair of violet eyes.

*Why him? Just because we are partners? Friends? I suppose I feel that he is one person who can really understand me.* Duo glanced thoughtfully up at his long time partner and friend, wondering if Heero shared any similar thoughts and feelings.

Duo had to admit, there had always been something that drew him to Heero, even as he held up his gun and shot. They were friends of course, but Duo wanted a bigger relationship. He didn't want to risk their friendship—he would rather have that than nothing.

He looked away again. *What would Heero think if he knew?* How awful it would be if Heero ever found out. Still, he couldn't help smiling at the thought of the surprise on Heero's face. It would be the anger that followed that scared him.

Heero, typing, looked up and scanned the room. He had felt someone's eves on him, he was sure, but all he saw was Duo looking out the window at a rainy sky, smiling. The braided boy was being strangely quiet for a change. Heero wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Oddly, Heero occasionally felt like there was more to his feelings towards Duo. He brushed them aside—emotions were weak, they gave you away to your enemies, made you vulnerable. Heero didn't like to think about it, especially when it went beyond friendship, which was hard enough on him. But Duo had been there one of the very few times Heero had been vulnerable; when he was being held in that hospital, after that first time they'd met. Duo broke him out and blew out the side of the building to save them. Afterwards, he helped Heero to stand with his broken leg. Had it been anyone else, he would have struggled, assured them he was alright, and shot them, but not Duo. He almost liked relying on someone else and being able to be relaxed. To be the one that was taken care of, instead of taking care of so many others. It felt good to be safe.

Heero shook those thoughts from his head, he was becoming too emotional. All this was a weakness, right?

"New mission just came in," Sally said, walking into the kitchen with a few papers in hand. "On earth, some people are trying to start some trouble. From what I gather, it's probably nothing big, but we should check it out." She sat down next to Wufei and took the glass of water Quatre handed her.

"Heero, Duo, Une thinks you can handle it."

"Right! When do we leave?" Duo asked, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head.

"Tomorrow morning. You know where the safe house is in the area. Not a big job, I don't know if you'll even have to stay overnight." She took a drink of the water and served breakfast.

"Liar," Duo muttered as he stumbled into the safe house. They'd been here for two days now and were just finishing up the "probably nothing big" assignment. Today was the last day, it was finally finished and over with, to Duo's relief. The trouble-makers had been rounded up and sent to jail, all in one piece despite Heero's determination to shoot at least one of them from sheer annoyance.

Today was also the worst day. First he and Heero have been accidentally separated near the end. Duo had taken on one hell of a beating from two of the ringleaders before backup arrived in the form of three more Preventer soldiers.

He didn't have the slightest idea of where Heero might be, but he hoped that he was safe and alive. Knowing Heero, he probably was.

"Good, 'cause I'm in no condition to go after him," he muttered to himself.

He shut the safe house door and surveyed the damage. It wasn't pretty. Blood, lots of it, and too much for Duo's comfort. Nothing broken, thankfully, but he was almost positive that a few of his cuts had to be stitched. Along with that, there were a lot of bruises, and he could feel them now that the adrenaline was gone.

He sighed and took a few steps forward. Dizziness swept over him and he closed his eyes, wanting everything to stop spinning. Once he could see reasonably well and the room didn't tilt so much, he started to walk across the room.

*Oh shit,* was his last thought before he fell to the floor, unconscious.

The door wasn't locked, Heero noticed as he walked into the safe house. Duo must be here already. He locked the door behind him and turned around, stopping when he saw Duo. He hesitated, but finally walked over to the fallen boy, heart pounding. He swallowed a sigh of relief when he saw that Duo was still breathing, and pretty regularly at that.

*He's hurt,* Heero thought, kneeling down. It was hard to tell just how bad it was with Duo's black clothes.

In any case, he had to be taken care of, now. Heero sighed quietly as he gently took the boy into his arms and carried him to the bathroom.

As he took off Duo's clothes, concern showed in his face. *It just looks worse because of the blood,* he told himself, filling the small tub and placing Duo's seemingly fragile body in it. He had obviously been moving around too much before taking care of his wounds. *The baka should know better. If he had stopped to bind those hours ago, he wouldn't be like this.*

After he'd washed away the mess, which included unbraiding and washing Duo's mussed hair, he washed his own hands and arms. Glad the pilot was still unconscious; he stitched up the wounds that needed it and covered them with anti-biotic ointment and bandages. He applied ointment and bandages to the smaller injuries for good measure before wrapping Duo in a large, clean towel and carrying him to the one small bedroom.

He laid the young man on the bed and fetched a cup of water. Pouring gently, Heero got Duo to swallow most of it. Making sure Duo was well covered and wouldn't get cold, he went to bathe himself. Clean and dressed, grabbed a book from a shelf near the house entrance. With that, he returned to the bedroom, pulled up a chair, and cracked it open. Trying to focus on the words on the page instead of the sleeping man, he waited for time to pass.

Duo winced, his body hurt and stung all over. His eyelids felt heavy and took forever to open. Once they did, he looked over to find Heero watching from a nearby chair, a forgotten book in his lap. Heero moved closer as Duo opened his mouth to say something. No sound emerged. Duo cleared his throat as Heero reached to the bedside table to produce a glass of water. Heero propped him up so he could drink. Duo drained the glass and lay back down, looking at Heero.

"What happened?" he whispered hoarsely. He could feel the pressure of bandages and the sting of anti-biotic ointment on his many cuts. He also realized that he was naked but for the towel around him and the blankets over his body. He felt his cheeks grow warm in embarrassment. Yet, the thought of Heero caring enough to take such good care of him also warmed his heart.

Heero almost wanted to smile as Duo blushed and looked away. "You blacked out," he replied, voice flat as usual. He didn't let the relief into his voice, but was glad that the braided pilot was alright.

"Drink this," he said, filling the glass with water from a pitcher and handing it to Duo. "And get some rest, you need it. I will have food when you wake up again."

Duo nodded and drank the water. He lay back down again, getting comfortable and was surprised when Heero pulled the sheets and blankets closer over his body. He took his seat in the chair again and opened his book. Duo smiled to himself as he drifted off to sleep.

When Duo awoke again it was morning. He sat up carefully, feeling much better, but still sore.

*It'll go away, I'm lucky to be alive.*

He looked over to find Heero dozing in the chair, which had been pulled closer to the bed, and his book was on the bedside table. It pulled at Duo's heart, Heero had probably been there all night.

As quietly as he possibly could, he crept out of bed and dressed himself before sneaking out of the room. He cleaned up in the bathroom, moving slowly so he didn't re-open wounds. After his hair was braided, he went to the kitchen. He would make breakfast; at least he might do a little something for Heero, after all Heero had done for him.

Once he had finished up and set the table, he decided to wake Heero only to turn and see him leaning against the door frame, watching him.

"Hey Heero," Duo's face lit in a smile. "Want some breakfast?" When Heero just looked at him, he said, "It's not burned or anything, and I'm pretty sure it's edible." He winked at Heero and set the food down on the table.

Heero nodded. "I assume you're feeling better," he said, taking a seat. His eyes followed Duo critically, noticing how slowly and carefully the injured man moved about.

"Much better," Duo said, sitting. He was quiet a moment. "I, I want to thank you for..." Heero was looking at him intently and he blushed very faintly, looking away. He fingered the end of his braid. "For taking care of me, like you did and... and sitting in that chair all night. Thank you." He glanced up and met Heero's eyes.

Is he...? Is that just a hint of a smile?

Heero was smiling, it was a very small smile, but a smile none-the-less.

*Why...?*

They were back home, finally, and Heero was helping Duo back to his room. He wasn't strong enough to walk up the stairs himself, much to Duo's displeasure.

Heero stopped supporting Duo when they entered his room and Duo walked forward without him, looking around the room. Heero dropped Duo's bags by the door as Duo looked around. Then Duo turned to face Heero and walked back to him.

"Thank you, Heero, for everything..." Duo said quietly. He quickly gathered his courage and lifted his hand to hold Heero's chin. He pressed his lips to Heero's, very softly. Heero was so surprised he didn't do anything, even close his eyes. Duo pulled away, blushing slightly. Heero stood there staring at him blankly, and Duo suddenly felt foolish.

"Heero, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- I mean, I couldn't help it, I," he was babbling now, and he refused to look up at Heero.

Heero reached out and softly touched Duo's hand. "Duo."

That got Duo quiet in a heartbeat. He looked up to meet Heero's eyes.

"Duo," Heero said quietly, almost hesitantly. "Do it again."

Duo looked surprised, but smiled a little, easing some of Heero's tension. He stepped forward, tilting Heero's head. Softly and slowly, Duo touched his lips to Heero's. Nothing happened at first, but then Heero responded, kissing him back and he wrapped his arms around Duo's waist.

They pulled away, but not out of each other's arms, to look at one another. Liking what he saw, Duo smiled and Heero responded with a small smile of his own.

Duo woke up and smiled. He looked over and beside him on the bed was a sleeping Heero. He was so happy, having Heero there with him, knowing that he returned Duo's love.

Heero woke up and looked sleepily at Duo, who smiled. Heero opened his arms and Duo eagerly accepted the invitation, wrapping his arms securely around Heero.

"Ai shiteru, Duo," Heero whispered.

Duo snuggled closer. "Ai shiteru, Heero."

After he'd found out Heero loved him and they began their relationship, the nightmares stopped, and hadn't come back to haunt him since. It helped to be in his koibito's arms all night.

Duo also knew that everything would be alright from now on; he would never be alone again. Not with Heero there, beside him. Even if the nightmares should return, neither he nor Heero would have to face them alone any longer.

*Ai shiteru*

Owari

Thank you for reading :)


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